Women in the Silent Cinema

"This study offers three comprehensive and knowledgeable monographs in one book. It includes the first long academic treatment of Musidora in English while also offering an exhaustive amount of factual evidence presented through careful explanations, interpretations and argumentation. Women in the Silent Cinema: Histories of Fame and Fate is a most valuable and groundbreaking reference for any further research on women’s positions and authorship in the international film industry of the 1910s and 1920s." - Martin Loiperdinger, University of Trier, Germany

"This publication is the first study on Musidora, actress, director and woman of letters, published outside of France. We met her [Annette Förster] in Bologna, Italy, June 2017 at the Festival Il Cinema Rítrovato, which she has been collaborating with for several years now. She is giving us the honour to publish, in French, a presentation of her work, especially for the Friends of Musidora. Thank You Annette!" - Yvon Dupart, Cahiers Musidora no. 2 (originally published in French)

"This book is for anyone who wants to keep their historiographical perspective on the popular culture of early and classical modernism alive - proving once again that everywhere (and down to the level of individual biographies) one must reckon with cultural-traditional and creative interpretations to really understand the range of the individual forms of performance and also the entire popular cultural landscape of the time." - Peter Ellenbruch, (originally published in German)

"Women in the Silent Cinema illuminates the mechanisms that governed the early film industry in Netherlands, France and the United States, presenting research findings pragmatically, and clearly explaining their significance [...] This is an excellent, meticulously developed source, and the accessible style of Förster’s writing — as well as her avoidance of unnecessary jargon — will make it appealing to non-specialized readership." - Agata Frymus, Early Popular Visual Culture

"Förster is painstaking in locating the women's careers in personal, theatrical, literary, and cinematic context, and she does especially well in reconstructing their lost films. An amazing book!" - Choice Reviews, W.A. Vincent, Michigan State University. Also Included in Choice's annual Outstanding Academic Titles list for 2017!